“I think sometimes people are turned off by the idea of feta, but this spread winds up being so balanced,” says Bryan Lee Weaver, the executive chef at Butcher & Bee and Fancypants (due this summer) in Nashville. Since diners can’t get enough of Butcher & Bee’s whipped feta, he serves it as a dip and slathered on veggie and other sammies. For any leftovers? “The real secret is to break out a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and finish it off.”
Whipped Feta
Yield: 2 cups
Ingredients
½ lb. feta in brine (set aside ¼ cup of the brine)
½ lb. cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp. minced garlic
¼ cup tightly packed basil leaves
Preparation
Break up feta into small pieces and place in the bowl of a food processor, along with cream cheese and garlic. Add ¼ cup of the brine from the feta and pulse a few times until everything is evenly incorporated. Add basil and pulse a few more times to incorporate into the mixture. There should be small flecks of basil throughout (be careful not to overmix or the feta will get a green tint). Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high for 1 to 2 minutes until the mixture is fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week (basil may oxidize and turn brown after 4 or 5 days).
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